Corby protesters call for death sentence

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A small group of demonstrators protest over what they say is a light sentence handed down last week to Corby.Photo: Reuters

About 40 people picketed in Jakarta today to demand the death
sentence for Australian woman Schapelle Corby, in jail for drug
trafficking in Bali.

The protesters also condemned a security scare at the Indonesian
embassy in Canberra.

A powder sent to the embassy on Wednesday sparked fears of an
anthrax attack and was linked to outrage in Australia over Corby's
20 year jail term for trafficking marijuana.

Carrying signs reading "Corby, drug dealer, must die", the
protesters outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta urged the Bali
courts to reject her appeal and sentence her to death, as allowed
under Indonesian law.

Another placard read, "Intervention no! Australia is supplier of
drugs".

A leader of the protest, Beathor Suryadi, said the feared attack
on the embassy "deeply pains" many Indonesians.

"What happened in Canberra is an insult to our integrity," he
told the crowd.

The embassy was closed and isolated for two days after white
powder spilled from a letter addressed to ambassador Imron Cotan.
It resumed activities on Friday.

Australian police said the powder contained a bacteria belonging
to the same family that hosts the deadly disease anthrax but it was
harmless.

Construction work is still under way at the Australian embassy
in Jakarta eight months after a suicide bomber killed nine people
outside the mission last September.

Protection at the mission has been heightened since the attack,
which was blamed on the Al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah
organisation.